Steve has the vibe and confidence of a master who knows he has achieved the great heights of life , and the reassuring tranquility of a man who has not stepped on too many souls to get there.On the contrary he has inspired many to produce music we take as granted in the fields of mainstream classical and popular music.
"The New Yorker" hails Reich as "the most original musical thinker of our time" which is maybe a platitude beyond the call of duty , "The New York Times" decries him "among the greatest composers of the century" which may require a clarification of which century we are talking about , and "The Village Voice" is less showy in describing him as "Americas greatest living composer" which may not be too far of the mark of a man who has genuine stature.
The success of Steves musical approach is that it was inspired very early on by Jazz , then genuine West African ( Reich studied in Ghana for many years) Drum musical notation.His music keeps the beat but creates a slight differential in the synch of two identical patterns.This means the mind is perpetually looking for the landmark "one" beat , an effect that sends the mind on a audio and philosophical mission which has a multitude of resolutions that any adherent of Islam and Judaism would immediately understand.
Reich came from a generation that was dogmatically taught in strict twelve bar modules , to diverge , as Steve told the audience, was to be the butt of ridicule at best , and worse to be effectively denied any serious airing in the whole spectrum of musical production from stepping stone workshop sessions to bookings at circuit theatres throughout the North American classical music circuit.
No matter how discordant it may initially sound , the secret to his work is that it always retains enough harmony in its musical divergences to keep the audiences mind diverse yet rooted in the music.
This video of the South Bank Show gives a good introduction to the man , the music and his inspirations.
In the 90s Steve wrote The Cave , the story of Hebron according to the three Abrahamic Religions.
The video below gives the Arabic version of the story of Hagar:
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